Just a guess - MLB may be holding up an announcement until after a deal to sell MASN is agreed to. If there were an unacceptably high rights fee for the Nats, then it might tamp down the price Angelos can get for his share of MASN. Too low, and the Nats get double schrod, with a low rights fee and a small percentage of MASN. The Nats might prefer to negotiate their rights fee with the eventual buyer rather than have the with the current structure of MASN (with its commitments to comparable rights fees for the Nats and Os) tamp down what they can get.
what company would purchase MASN without knowing what the deal is- owing $500 million over 5 years vs owing $175 million (really $1 billion and $350 million with the Os match) seems like it would effect the value. I also wonder what MD going to the big 10 (ie their own RSN) and Georgetown being up in the air does to an RSN looking to move into the area. The other pro teams are locked in, so you may be looking at just baseball + some very low level college sports- that may be a tough sell to carriers. Personally, I would love it if they grabbed the remnant Big East BB + the Nats
